An asteroid may have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, but an earlier one probably allowed the rise of the giant creatures, which dominated the planet for 135 million years, says a team from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

A newly discovered fossil skull suggests that an early human species migrated from Africa to Asia and back again before evolving into modern humankind, an international team of researchers said Wednesday. The fossil is the strongest evidence yet that the species called Homo erectus--a tool-making, nomadic ancestor of humanity that was the first creature to master fire--was a single species ranging across Africa, Europe and Asia.

One of the most heralded findings of paleontology--3.5-billion-year-old rocks considered to be the Earth's oldest fossils--may be merely "an illusion," according to a new analysis published Thursday. The report, which claims the rocks do not contain any signs of life at all, is hotly contested by the fossils' original discoverer. If true, however, it could rewrite much of Earth's early history.

GeoDecor's showroom in El Segundo perfectly sets up an otherworldly prehistoric mood, a flashback to childhood trips to a natural history museum: black walls, nearly frigid air and overhead lights that focus on dinosaur bones and other fossils, some 100 million years old. But this is not a museum--everything here is for sale. Not just meteorites, minerals and crystals, but fossilized plants, fish and dinosaurs' bones.

Even the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex can't escape the merciless progress of scientific knowledge. The truth is cruel: T-rex was probably T-wrecks. "If we did Jurassic Park 4," says Wyoming paleontologist Robert Bakker, "T-rex would be portrayed in a fear-, angst-ridden role--sort of a large Woody Allen character."

Not much has changed on the Pawnee National Grassland in 35 million years, scientists say. There was more precipitation then, about 25 inches annually compared with 15 today, and there were more trees. The rolling hills would have been much the same, with taller grass and a warmer climate. Instead of the treeless prairie of today, there were clusters of trees 35 million years ago--walnut, maple and cottonwood. But the real change in this land is with the animals.

Scientists long have suspected that dinosaurs were land animals. Only recently, however, have the giants of the Earth been depicted as the terrestrial creatures they were. To get a true picture, a small but significant change needed to be made in the dinosaurs' appearance. They needed a nose job. A study by Ohio University paleontologist Lawrence Witmer found that the traditional depiction of dinosaur nostrils was wrong.

University of Pennsylvania archeologists have unearthed a gargantuan dinosaur in a corner of Egypt that paleontologists have ignored since World War II, when earlier finds from the region stored in German museums were blasted from existence by Allied warplanes. They report in Friday's Science that the new species, dubbed Paralititan stromeri, or tidal giant, walked in ancient mangrove swamps in what is now the Sahara Desert.

The early cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex had a much weaker bite than the most fearsome predator ever to roam Earth, so it may have relied on the sharpness of its teeth and a tough but lightweight skull to slash and tear flesh from its prey, a study suggests. Allosaurus fragilis (pronounced fruh-JILL-iss) was an extremely successful hunter that survived for millions of years chasing down larger and smaller dinosaurs alike during the late Jurassic period before Tyrannosaurus emerged.